Firstly, let’s thank those who attended the Division of Research’s 360 event on the 4 November and I hope that you found it an informative session. For those unable to make it, you can view a recording of the event as well as a copy of the PowerPoint presentation here.

Next, congratulations to the 30 UNSW Sydney academics featured in the prestigious Clarivate Analytics List of Highly Cited Researchers. This result is a 50% increase over last year and a tenfold increase since 2016, positioning UNSW second among Group of Eight (Go8) universities and 27th among comparator institutions globally.

Finally, recent ARC and NHMRC grant outcomes have seen UNSW awarded sizeable funds, including 72 ARC Discovery Projects equalling $30.8M; and 28 NHMRC Investigator Grants to the value of $42.7M. Along with the recent Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by subject, these results are a testament to the breadth and depth of multidisciplinary talent here at UNSW; and I congratulate all researchers and support staff involved in these achievements.

Lastly, I wish you all a safe and restorative holiday period.

My regards,Nick Fisk

2019 ARC and NHMRC Funding Outcomes

UNSW has had significant ARCgrant success this year, with the most recent announcement the awarding of 72 ARC Discovery Projects equalling $30.8M. UNSW also secured 15 ARC DECRAs (worth $6M), equal 5th in number with ANU; 13 ARC Future Fellowships (total $11.5M), equal 2nd in number with Monash; and 3 ARC Linkage projects worth $1.3M. The total award of $151.8M sees UNSW drop to 4th in the Go8 this year when we missed out on lead Centres of Excellence, although still 3rd if considering only the annual schemes. Details of individual ARC awards can be found here.

Chemical engineer Scientia Professor Rose Amal AC FTSE FAA has been named as the 2019 NSW Scientist of the Year.

Professor Amal was among five UNSW winners of 2019 NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering that also included Professor David Keith and Dr Neeraj Sharma from UNSW Science; Professor Susan Clark from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine; and Dr Angelica Merlot from UNSW Medicine.

Engineering candidate Felipe Arrano Vargas recently won a Universitas 21 (U21) GraduateCollaborative Research Award to work on a global research project with doctoral candidates from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Auckland.

Felipe believes that “collaboration among members with diverse but complementary perspectives opens up new ways and methodologies to achieve a common goal", with the international nature of the group enhancing the research project’s potential impact.

The project explores new ways of analysing and improving system strength in renewable energy power systems and recommendations are hoped to be developed by November 2020.

ARC College of Experts 2020

Appointment to the ARC College of Experts for 2020 was announced on the 5 November 2019, with five UNSW staff joining the ARC College in 2020:

In a new video, recent UNSW PhD graduate Dr David Mizrahi discusses his research into the role of exercise in helping paediatric cancer patients recover from chemotherapy. Now a Clinical Research Officer with the Prince of Wales Clinical School, UNSW, Dr Mizrahi has expanded his research to help rehabilitate sufferers of ovarian cancer.

This video is the latest in a series profiling the cutting-edge research being undertaken by UNSW PhD candidates and alumni. Click here to watch the full video series.

Times Higher Education (THE) Subject Rankings

Throughout October and November, results of the THE World University Rankings by subject were released. Overall UNSW performed soundly across 9 of the 11 subjects, only going down in Education and Art & Humanities:

63rd in Business & Economics (+7), 59th in Clinical, Pre-Clinical & Health (+32), 79th in Computer Science (+71), 59th in Engineering & Technology (+12 and moving to 1st in the Go8!), 18th in Law (+5), 80th in Life Sciences (+5), 98th in Physical Sciences (+24), 99th in Social Sciences (+6), 52nd in Psychology (THE ranking remains unchanged; however, we dropped to 4th in the Go8 (-2), 61st in Education (-14) and 144th Education and Art & Humanities (-18).

A full list of the THE World University Rankings by subject can be found here.

ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships Pin Ceremony

Congratulations to UNSW 2019 ARC Australian Laureate Fellows Professor Kaarin Anstey, Professor Liming Dai and Professor Andrew Dzurak; who were presented with honorary pins at a celebratory ceremony held at Old Parliament House on 27 November 2019.

The Research Grants and Contracts (RGC) team are finalising a restructure which will be in place for the start of the new year 2020!The new structure will streamline processes and leverage efficiencies to improve services to researchers, faculties and the academic community.The new structure consists of three main teams:

Pre-Award

Post-Award

Operations

The RGC team thank you in advance for your support and patience during this period of transition.

Please visit the RGC Website for further information about the new team structure, or contact the RGC team at rgc@unsw.edu.au for any questions you may have.

Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme | 2020 Recruitment

The Graduate Research School received 324 applications for the 2020 round of the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme.

Following scoring by Faculty(s), the SHARP-est Committee reviewed a final ranked list of the top applicants on 16 October 2019, with offers sent thereafter.

90 Scientia PhD Scholarships are available for 2020. The successful applicants can commence their candidature in Term 1, 2 or 3, 2020.